New Anti-Islam Alliance

The movement will lobby for banning Muslim immigration into Western countries and outlawing Sharia law.

Gil Ronen, 18/07/10 16:56 | updated: 17:25

Geert Wilders

Wikimedia Commons

Dutch anti-Jihadi lawmaker Geert Wilders is forming an international alliance, hoping to ban Muslim immigration into Western countries.

Wilders told the Associated Press Thursday he will launch the movement late this year in five countries: the Unites States, Canada, Britain, France and Germany. The new movement will be called the Geert Wilders International Freedom Alliance.

Speaking at the Dutch parliament, Wilders explained: "The message, 'stop Islam, defend freedom,' is a message that's not only important for the Netherlands but for the whole free Western world.”

Besides outlawing immigration from Islamic countries to the West, Wilders' group will push a ban on Islamic Sharia law. Wilders hopes the grassroots movement will act as a lobby to influence lawmakers, or eventually run as a party itself.

Ayhan Tonca, a prominent spokesman for Dutch Muslims, told AP he feared Wilders' message would be well-received in Europe. "So long as things are going badly with the economy, a lot of people always need a scapegoat," he said. "At the moment, that is the Muslims in Western Europe."

Wilders perceives a need for an anti-Muslim movement that is more militant against Islam than traditional conservative parties, yet is not a far-right wing like the British National Party. "The BNP is a party that, whatever you think of it, it's not my party - I think it's a racist party," Wilders said.

Wilders' Freedom Party came in third in national elections last month, with 24 seats in the 150-seat Parliament, up from nine. However, mainstream parties refuse to form a coalition with Wilders.

Wilders will stand trial in October on hate speech charges based upon his short Internet film "Fitna," which depicted the Quran as a fascist book that inspires terrorism. The film was censored in some outlets but Arutz Sheva has kept it online.

Speaking with Yishai Fleisher on Israel National News earlier this year, Wilders said: “I know the majority of Muslims are not terrorists, but are rather law-abiding citizens. Islam is the problem; in Islam, there is no room for anything else but Islam, and therefore at the end of the day, we will lose everything that we stand for. I’ve visited almost every Islamic country, and I know that wherever Islam is dominant, there is one common denominator, and that is a loss of freedom, especially for Jews, women, non-Muslims, etc. We have to stand up and say that whoever wants to replace our ideology and culture with Islam is not welcome to stay.”